


Standing Up.

by shoryubug



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya Césaire Bashing, André Glacier Bashing, André Glacier's Ice Cream, Caline Bustier Bashing, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi Lies, Mentioned Luka Couffaine, Minor Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Nino Lahiffe Is So Done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:33:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22696486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shoryubug/pseuds/shoryubug
Summary: Marinette has had enough of Alya always butting into her plans and taking over, so she finally stands up to her best friend.
Comments: 79
Kudos: 606





	1. Alya

**Author's Note:**

> Starting this off with saying, first and foremost; please take it easy on me, this is my first fic since 2004…second; I have read a LOT of Miraculous salt, and honestly I am just really tired of Alya being made into a racist caricature in all of the saltfics that I read, and I wanted to do something that seemed believable. This story was originally intended to be a one-shot with an open ending, however due to popular demand on Tumblr I've decided to give it life and make it into a 10 part story.

* * *

When it came to matters of the heart, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was not well versed, after all, she had just begun to learn what it was like to fall in love...and all of the intense feelings that came with it. Being new to the age of fourteen was strange in and of itself, but it had come with a lot of new hormones and feelings to process as a result of those hormones...and right now, she was feeling a lot of heartbreak...but living in a city with an emotional terrorist had given her certain limitations, and thus eradicated the ability for her to have a healthy way to get over the intensity of the heartbreak that she felt...so she turned to new, and very welcome distractions, such as throwing herself entirely into her hobby of designing, and planning out sketches for her future designs. 

It wasn’t much, but it was all that she felt comfortable with, it made her feel at ease from the pain of wondering if she had made the right choice when she confronted Hawkmoth at the end...many questions had lingered on her mind, should she have chosen Chloe over Kagami? Chloe was calling out to her...and the choice she had made...was it really pragmatic, or was she thinking with her heart instead of her head? Yes, Kagami had picked up on things rather quickly...but when she pondered it afterward, she couldn’t see anything aside from the mistake she’d made...if she had chosen Chloe, then they wouldn’t have had to face Miracle Queen...but the more she thought about it...facing Miracle Queen was the best possible outcome. She still would have forgotten to change back, due to Mayura’s distraction, and if Miracle Queen hadn’t acted like such a pompous brat, then Hawkmoth definitely would have kept all of the Miraculous for himself...and the more she thought about it like that, the more she felt that she had made the right choice...even if it was for the wrong reasons. 

  
A sigh played on palid pink lips before she picked her pencil up and began to absently sketch out a design that played on the newspaper trope that was seemingly both in and out of fashion. A part of her wished that she could put that kind of design into the fabrics of her choice, to give it a retro-vintage look, but another part of her was certain that anything that tied to the printing press was on it’s way out. Her mind was a blank void for the moment, before she stared at the home screen of her computer. A picture of Adrien Agreste standing there, she still had yet to change it, despite having taken down a lot of the fanfare that had previously adorned her walls. “Looks like I forgot something else…” she mumbled, before she felt a slight brush of wind, and a tap on her cheek. 

“Marinette! Don’t be so hard on yourself! Everyone can be forgetful!” Tikki’s charming voice rang out. A smile played on her lips for a brief moment before her soft gaze fluttered back to her computer screen and she began to search online for a picture that she knew existed somewhere, of Ladybug and Chat Noir sitting on a roof, gazing out at the city. She still wasn’t sure who had captured the photo, but it was one of her favorites, just a picture of her and Chat enjoying the moment. No flirting, no puns, no akumas...just patrolling the city in the pursuit of helping the citizens, and taking a pause for themselves afterward. 

“You’re right Tikki...but as you know, sometimes it can be really hard not to chastise myself.” Marinette stated, before she finally found the photo and set that as her background. “What do you think of this design by the way?” she asked, motioning down to the paper she was sketching on and tapping on a small section of the paper with the erasure of her pencil, highlighting it for her Kwami partner. 

“I think you should make it! It’d look really nice on anyone that wore it, and I know that’s important to you!” Tikki offered as Marinette’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.  
  
“You really think so? I was just sketching but, if you really think I should!” her voice was full of joy. 

“Yeah! I can even help you like when you made the hat!” Tikki offered before Marinette scooped her up with both hands and placed a soft kiss to her Kwami’s forehead. 

“Thank you so much Tikki!” Marinette stated before setting the kwami back down on the desk. “Now it’s time I get to work!” she stated while giving off a joking macho pose. Reaching into her pocket she sent out a few texts to Juleka, Luka, and Rose, asking each of them if they wouldn’t mind measuring each other for sizes, so that she could work on a new project, and after about 10 minutes of waiting, all three had sent separate responses with answers to her question, and upon that, she set straight off to work. 

* * *

The process of making the jackets and shirts was a bit arduous, having to deal with puckered seams a bunch of the time, and becoming ultra friendly with a seam ripper, but after a while, she had finally perfected everything, and it had only taken one day and three afternoons, so for her it was record timing. Excitement filled the air as she sent texts off to Juleka, Rose, and Luka, asking if all three wouldn’t mind meeting her after school so that she could do a fitting for them, to perfect any issues in the clothing, and after that if they wouldn’t mind modeling the clothing out near Canal Saint Martin, so that she could play on the setting with the color tones of the clothing, offering each a box of macarons for their help, and to use the images on her new website. Rose and Juleka had answered with earnest, though Luka had yet to respond, but Marinette wasn’t too concerned, having believed he was just busy with his morning routine. 

As she had gone through school, everything was basically the same as usual, aside from the excited glances she kept shooting back at Juleka and Rose, anticipating the afternoon. 

“Girl, what’s up today, why do you keep looking back at Juleka and Rose, is something up with Kitty Section? Or is this about a certain boy in blue?” Alya teased before Marinette’s cheeks tinged pink. 

“Nothing’s up exactly...I just asked the two of them if they’d model a new outfit for me is all, and I’m really excited to get it all set up on my website!” Marinette practically sang, her heart entirely set upon her work. 

“Oh! You know what you need for that then? Adrien and Lila! They can totally help and give you some amazing tips to seem more professional!” Alya volunteered, which made Marinette sigh in irritation. 

“I’d really rather they didn’t come.” Marinette stated, which made Alya roll her eyes. 

“Look, you have to get over that he’s dating someone already, you can’t just pretend that you’re friends when you’re together but then avoid him for stuff like this that would actually help you!” Alya whisper-stated. 

“No Alya, and this isn’t even about that! Besides, I’m fine, and Adrien and I are friends, I’m not pretending anything!” Marinette hissed. 

“Then what, is it about your jealousy of Lila? She’s a model now girl, she really could help you!” Alya insisted, which made Marinette roll her eyes. The bell rang just at that moment, which was a godsend to Marinette. If she had to keep up with that conversation, she was going to scream. Scooping up her book-bag she slung it over her shoulder, reached into her pocket, and checked her texts. Finally, the message from Luka that she’d been waiting on! 

>>>Yeah sure Marinette that sounds fun, but you really don’t need to bring the macarons, your company is enough of a present. 

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she walked in a daze down the stairway, she wasn’t exactly in love with Luka, but he really did know how to make her feel light as air...but her mood was brought down the moment that she heard Alya’s loud voice in conversation with Lila and Adrien. 

“Yeah! Marinette’s doing it today, just ask her---” Alya was midway through the sentence before Marinette stomped over. 

“I already told you that I didn’t want them coming. This is private Alya, I didn’t even invite you so what makes you think that you can invite others on my behalf?!” she snapped. 

“Girl like I said you need to get over your jealousy--” 

“I’m not jealous! Why do you always have to make this about me being jealous!? What about this seems like jealousy?! I already have my models chosen, and since both Adrien and Lila are GABRIEL’S MUSES it would look bad on me to use either of them, for their help or for their modeling! I already told you I didn’t want them to come, but you came over and invited them anyway! Why won’t you just listen to me?! Do you want another Reflekdoll incident?! You didn’t even apologize to Juleka for that, you just left it all on me, and it wasn’t even my fault!” Marinette huffed, making motions with her hands the entire time, before finally turning her attention to both Adrien and Lila. “Look guys...I’m really sorry this isn’t about either of you, but I just wanted to spend some time concentrating on my own thing today and Alya really had no right to invite either of you. Everything is fitted to those three, and I’m doing final fitting checks for the new designs I made, it’s not even about you two, which Alya would have known if she’d have asked me first, or paid attention to when I said no!” her attention set back to Alya as both Lila and Adrien inched away slowly to get away from the splash zone of what they both perceived to be an obvious fight on the rise. 

“Th-that’s fine Marinette! I understand, and I’m sure Lila does too...I’m gonna go meet my bodyguard now!” Adrien stated, before practically sprinting off. 

“Marinette I don’t get it, why are you being so stubborn!? Is it really impossible to be friends with him now?” Alya begged. “I mean it’s weird enough having to plan around both of you being in the same place--” 

“Nobody asked you to do that Alya! Neither of us should be unincluded! I already said it a few times now, this wasn’t about Adrien or Lila or jealousy, this was about you stomping into my already set plans and trying to take over, like you always do! It isn’t fair! Not to me, not to the people I make these plans with, not to anyone!” 

“This really can’t be on me. I mean, there’s obviously something deeper--” 

“No! There isn’t! Now would you stop making it a habit of stomping in on my plans and taking over!? Because I really have to go and I don’t want to keep having this conversation with you!” Marinette shot before slapping a hand to her face and huffing. “Look...we should really talk about this later, but right now...I have plans that I intend to follow through on…” and with that, Marinette took leave of the school, of Alya, and away from all of the weird looks she was getting. Her mood was clearly shot, but she wasn’t going to let that ruin the designs that she had spent days pouring her heart and soul into, or the fun she still intended to have with the Rose, Juleka, and Luka.


	2. Andre Glacier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After confronting Alya at school, Marinette goes about her plans with Luka, Rose, and Juleka, only to have her happy mood ruined by Andre Glacier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh so my laptop just got back, and while I'm not feeling the best, I do hope that this chapter kind of helps everyone to understand more of what I'm trying to build here!

Alya was always doing this kind of thing, pushing her ideas and thoughts and plans aside...it wasn’t just hers either. Continually she’d been witness to Alya doing the very same thing to Nino, and it was frustrating. It didn’t matter that it had just happened, Marinette wanted to stop thinking about it, so after stomping her way over to Rose and Juleka who were both outside the school gates, she wasn’t exactly angry, that would be too simple, she was more irritated. The fact that Alya continually railroaded her time and time again was frustrating, and the worst part was that it was getting to the point that Nadja Chamack wasn’t willing to trust her as much as a babysitter, so all the spare money that she was earning before was now reduced heavily, due to every instance that Alya was around both her and Manon.

"So Marinette, we got a trailer for Juleka’s bike so that we can all go to Canal Saint-Martin for the photographs, Luka said he’d meet us at your place so that we can all ride down there together because he found a place that we can all change in!" Rose gushed as Marinette had felt a wave of peace wash over her for a moment.

"Yeah, let’s just go to my place for all of it!" she said cheerily as the three of them made their way to the bakery, Rose waited outside guarding the bike while Juleka and Marinette had gone inside to gather a few piles of clothing, three outfits for each Juleka, Rose, and Luka, and Marinette’s mind began to wander to Juleka’s older brother for a moment while the pair of them silently went down the various rows of stairs to dump the folded piles of clothing in the trailer.

Luka was definitely a godsend to her in these moments, and she didn’t know what she would have done without his support. She had given up everything she felt before for Adrien, to give him and Kagami a fair chance at being together, because they were both her friends, and they both were interested in each other, and they both deserved to be happy...even if it had meant that she had to sacrifice the potential of any future she might have wanted with him. That wasn’t as important as the happiness of two of her friends, no matter how much it hurt her in the end.

Marinette found herself to still be lucky to have the support of friends like Juleka, Rose, Luka, Mylene, Alix, Kim, Nino, and of course Tikki in the moments that she could feel the weight of that sadness pulling her down and she was grateful for it. Not a lot of people in the world had that kind of support.

"Wasn’t there also some jewelry you wanted us to model?" Rose asked, breaking Marinette from her reverie.

"Ah-umm, yes, but I wanted it to be a surprise so let me go get the box, and once you’re getting dressed in the outfits you can choose what jewelry you want to model!" Marinette stated, rushing back up the stairs to search her room for the three boxes of jewelry she had packed away, each labeled with her three models names affixed in permanent marker, written in the same fancy script as what was on the T&S bakery door before she made her way back down the stairs.

"So, since you’re getting us ice cream after I kind of wanted to bring something up…" Juleka stated as Marinette turned her gaze to the girl, setting the boxes in the trailer then zipping the casing up and turning her gaze to the girl.

"Oh yeah! I wanted to know too, but I’m going to ride ahead to meet Luka! Please let me know the answer Juleka! I’m really curious!" Rose’s sweet voice broke through as Marinette nodded, trying to follow along confused while Rose grabbed a helmet from the trailer and sped off like a speed-demon, making Alix’s speed craze look tame in comparison.

"So...you had a question?" Marinette offered as she looked up at Juleka, admiring the girl’s beautiful figure and face.

"Well...everyone is assuming that your new flavors are hinted at Luka...but the colors seem more like you yourself, don’t you think?" Juleka’s question lingered between the two of them for a moment as Marinette sighed.

"I don’t really know what to think...I try not to think about the ice cream...I know my dad proposed to my mom with a scoop of it, but...I think I lost my faith in it when Andre was akumatized because I didn’t want to eat it." Marinette admitted, giving Juleka a knowing look.

"Wait he was akumatized because you didn’t want to eat ice cream?" Juleka asked, perplexed "I thought it was because something else happened, that’s what everyone made it sound like!"

"Well...Mylene, Ivan, Alya, and Nino invited me and Adrien to go get ice cream with them...a couples thing I guess...but Adrien couldn’t go, and I was upset, so I felt like a fifth wheel to them, you know, two pairs of couples and one single person...and when they all went to get their ice cream, he kind of...tried to force me to take some myself, claiming that it would 'make my true love materialize'" she used air quotes at that. "And I was fooled for a second, into thinking that this boy was Adrien for a moment...but then I dropped my ice cream and my appetite was gone, so I told him as much...and he insisted on making another one, and...I kind of said that I didn't believe ice cream could bring true love...that ice cream was just ice cream...and I left...everyone kind of followed after but mostly I just wanted to be alone..." she stated with a sigh before shaking her head.

"Wow...it sounds a lot more like he was being a jerk," Juleka whispered, and Marinette sighed.

"I don't know...I shouldn't have overreacted the way that I did...but I didn't know what to do...he was a grown man, and he wound up getting akumatized over it...and I don't know how long it took him to find me, luckily for me Chat Noir was with me that night, or I might have been turned into an ice cream sculpture..." she stated, wrapping her arms around her frame.

"You were with Chat Noir that night? You know how funny it would be if he was your true love? I mean, your old colors kind of match his too." Juleka offered as Marinette burst out into a fit of giggles.

"Yeah, right, me and Chat Noir. That's the best joke I've ever heard!" Marinette managed through her fit of giggles, though aware in the back of her mind that even the possibility of her and Chat Noir together was the making of something catastrophic.

_It figures that it would start with the word cat too, effectively making it a pun. Ugh._

she thought, before bouncing in her step trying to match Juleka's pace.

As they had finally gotten to their destination after a few more minutes of chit-chat that was more lighthearted, Juleka and Rose had gone off to one bathroom while Luka stood and waited in one of the new outfits that he was modeling for her, a smile plastered on his face the moment that she'd approached him, and as he was about to speak she held up a finger to silence him, her eyes raking over every detail before she went to the trailer of the bike and came back with a small sewing kit, quickly setting up a ladder stitch on the back of the coat, while it was still on him, then pulling the seam to make it better fitted to his form.

"That looks much better...you were about to say something though? I'm really sorry for interrupting!" she murmured before he shook his head and smiled wider at her.

"Nothing, it's always great to watch you when you're in your own mind, it's like watching a rickshaw in action, something you just can't peel your eyes from because it's intricacies are too alluring." His compliments set her cheeks ablaze for a moment. Leave it to Luka to make her blush. "Anyway Ma-ma-ma-Marinette, how have you been? Rose said you were having some trouble earlier." He patted the space beside him, beckoning her forward. "You can always talk to me if you need...or not talk, you know." His intense aquatic gaze made her feel at ease for a moment.

"It's...It's not that it's bad or anything it's just that...Alya keeps...pushing my buttons. I mean...before when she tried to invite herself to everything I had always thought it was just her trying to be a good friend, but today it just felt too intrusive. She tried to pull Adrien and Lila in too, and just disregarded me telling her no...it was just...too much." she stated, giving a sigh. "I know I probably shouldn't have gotten so angry about it, but I couldn't help it! I mean, she just wouldn't listen! Sometimes she's so stubborn that I just...want to scream at her!" Marinette felt her eyes beginning to water. "I guess I kind of did today though, huh? So much for keeping my cool..." it was then that she had felt Luka's arms around her, embracing her tightly, the warmth of his body spilling into her like an ocean meeting the sand.

"You don't deserve to have your plans stomped on by anybody Marinette...standing up to her was the best thing that you could have done in this situation, maybe now she'll start to understand that she needs to take your requests seriously," Luka stated before he pulled away and his gaze met his sister's who had quickly turned away as if she were caught up in an embarrassing moment...though there was nothing embarrassing about it. Intimate maybe, but not embarrassing.

"Thank you, Luka...I guess I really needed to hear that," she stated before wiping at her eyes.

The photoshoot had gone well, each of the three models posting around the various spaces that Marinette wanted them to while she took multiple high-resolution photos from her phone, which now had a special magnifying lens affixed to it. All in all the four of them had fun, them in making new poses and her in fixing things up, jokes all around between them, and it was one of the happier moments that Marinette had experienced in a while, full of laughter and joy.

"So now that we're all done, do you guys still want to go for ice cream?" Marinette offered, pointing out the Andre Glacier ice cream cart to the trio. Juleka and Luka had simultaneously shrugged while Rose's wide ocean eyes had somehow gotten wider.

"Yes! Ice cream sounds amazing! We should all get our own though if that's okay! I'm just not in a sharing mood!" Rose stated which had made Juleka burst out in laughter. All of them had made their way over to the ice cream cart where Rose and Juleka had gone first.

"We'd like some ice cream please!" Rose stated in earnest as Andre had looked the duo over.

"Strawberry for her darling smile, blackberry for her hair, and blueberry for your ocean blue stare! This shall keep your love together through any affair!" Andre sang out, scooping out the ice cream and putting a cherry and two-scoop spoons on top, to which Rose gave a disappointed look, taking the ice cream to share with Juleka, before Marinette pursed her lips while Luka approached, being gifted some ice cream himself, the same pink and blue colors that he and Marinette had often gotten before Marinette had gotten to Andre.

"I'll take one of each of the previous sets please," Marinette stated as Andre gaped at her then awkwardly laughed.

"Ah, pretty Marinette! You know how the ice cream is here---" he began before Marinette's gaze turned to steel while she looked directly into Andre's eyes.

"As I said, I'll take one of each of the previous two sets of ice cream please." Her voice was cold, anger seeped into her words.

"That isn't how I run this stand Marinette--"

 **"This isn't a practical way to run a business Andre."** She snapped before grabbing two five euro bills and slamming them on his stand before stomping off, notably without ice cream as she made her way over to the trio that had made their way to the bike as Juleka had taken leave on it, to go drop off the clothing and jewelry at Marinette's and the trailer at Rose's. Luka himself had been there with Rose who shrugged about it, though Marinette only sighed.

"So...do you wanna share?" Luka offered as Marinette shook her head 'no'.

"I'm fine...thank you though. I'm not really in the mood for ice cream...I was hoping Andre would be understanding, but apparently, he isn't." She murmured, as the first time that she'd gotten ice cream with her friends replayed in her mind for the second time that day. Irritation laced that memory, just as it had infected her formerly happy mood. "I think I'm gonna head home...actually...thank you guys for today, and let Juleka know that I'll get her some pastries for breakfast tomorrow to make up for what happened with Andre today..." Marinette offered as Luka nodded, Rose softly sighed.

"It's just too bad...I don't like this ice cream much now..." Rose whispered. "I think I might just go get it from stores from now on! You get more for your money in them!" Rose offered, joyously.

"That sounds like a plan to me!" Marinette stated. "I hope you guys have a great rest of the day! I've gotta study for this Friday's test in physics, I'll see you guys later!" She stated as she began to make her way home, no doubt to hear about how rude she'd been that day from Tikki, and get a lecture from her kwami...which she wasn't in the mood for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter has some more Andre salt, because I can't resist having Ladybug herself call the man out, as well as a mild bit of Kagami and Chat Noir salt. Hope you're all ready when I finally get that up!  
> \--Shoryubug


	3. Chapter 3

Hi all,  
Due to the massive outpouring of verbal harassment that I have received, I will no longer be updating any of my sites or stories after today. 

I apologize for leaving this community, but I have to think about my own mental health and safety, as the awful messages from folks, (including death threats and requests that I commit suicide) - but it's not safe for me.

Wish you all the best,  
Shoryubug


End file.
